


On High

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Hobbit Birthday Fics 2020 [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Exposure, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23208496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Steve's on hour four of scaling these damn cliffs and is not enjoying any part of it.In which Steve scales mountains for Tony. Written for betheflame's prompt: Tony’s plane crashes on his way back from a SI trip and Steve hikes mountains to find him
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Holly's Hobbit Birthday Fics 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668586
Comments: 6
Kudos: 68





	On High

Steve's on hour four of scaling these damn cliffs and is not enjoying any part of it. _Ten days_ , Tony had said. _And I'll see if I can get it down to eight. But it has to be me._ Steve had wheedled and whined, he'd kissed and cajoled, but none of it had made any difference. Steve hadn't quite been willing to stoop so low as to remind Tony of exactly why he hadn't wanted his husband leaving him behind right now, but Tony had seen right through him. _I'll do everything I can to be back before the anniversary, and I swear, if I could get out of this I would, but Steve, it has to be me._

And so Tony had gone off to Tokyo to do whatever it was that he was doing (Steve's certain he should have known at some point, he just doesn't know now) and everything had been fine until about six hours after Tony had told him he was on his way home against the air traffic controller's recommendation. Which is what landed Steve here, in the mountains, scaling ridiculous cliffs for the man he loves. Everyone's convinced that he couldn't have survived the crash, and the footage Rhodey had gotten released to him had been pretty damn convincing. But not convincing enough. Not for Captain America who had survived worse, or for Steve Rogers who was married to a man that had survived worse. Literal shrapnel in his chest, and they thought Tony Stark would be taken down by a damn plane crash? No. Not his Tony. His Tony is too smart and too strong for that. Way too smart and way too strong. So Steve had gone against orders, just as Tony himself had done, and made his way into the mountains to find his way to Tony.

The ping from the GPS in Tony's phone is getting louder the higher Steve gets, and Steve holds that knowledge like a candle in his chest. If Tony's GPS is still working, then his phone is still running, which means there's a chance that Tony's still with that phone and still alive. Tony's been known to set up his phones to be discoverable in the most uninhabitable of locations and Steve knows Tony's tough enough to stick it out anywhere. Even if the Iron Man suit is disabled as everyone's assuming, there's a good chance Steve will be dealing with a Tony that's suffering from exposure on top of any other injuries from the crash. It's a constant nag at the back of his mind, a reminder of why he's being called upon to do this, but Stv forces the thought down every time. All Steve can do right now is keep moving. Onward, forward, upward, without thinking too hard about how many false peaks he's reached in his efforts to get to Tony.

It's Steve's deliberate focus and attention to the path in front of him that has him almost missing the shift in the beep in his ear. He stops short, breath coming in deep, rasping gasps as he tries to calm down enough to hear what the sound is. The instant he recognizes it as Morse code, his heart starts tripping double time in his chest. It's an SOS. _Tony_. Stev moves with renewed purpose, eager to get to where he needs to be. To Tony's side.

He makes good time as he forces his way through the underbrush, but desperation makes him sloppy and more than once he has to stop and readjust his path to avoid particularly perilous sections of non-path. Still, Steve's never been a quitter, and Tony's no exception.

It almost comes as a surprise when Steve makes it to the true summit, or something close to it. To wherever the place is that's been giving off Tony's signal. It's an outcropping overlooking a steep drop-off, and Steve's pretty damn sure that it's only dumb luck and the good grace of Tony's technology that let him find this place.

Then his eyes fall on his quarry and his heart drops into his stomach.

Tony's on the ground, his body utterly still in a way that stops Steve's heart in his chest. There's no way. There's no _fucking way_ he's come this far just to recover a body. He can't lose Tony, not today. Not on the anniversary of the day he lost everything.

Steve darts across the outcropping, making note of the debris around Tony. The remains of the suit, if the color is any indication. Steve's stomach clenches around his heart at that, the knowledge that the suit hadn't withstood the impact worming its way between his ribs. It's not a good sign, and with Tony unmoving, this might only be worse.

Steve drops to his knees a safe distance away from Tony and then crawls his way closer. "Tony?" he whispers. Then , a bit louder, "Tony, are you with me?"

The sound of Tony's low, aching groan is the best thing Steve's heard in hours. He'd have dropped to his knees if he weren't already on them.

As it is, he has to call out to Tony before he tries to move. "Don't move yet, baby. I'm gonna have JARVIS do a scan. I want to make sure there's no spinal injuries." Tony gives another groan in answer and stops trying to move. He searches the immediate area for a sign of the helmet, relieves when he finds it mostly intact just to his right. He scrambles over to it, setting it up so the sensors in the eyes are pointing at Tony. "Give me a full spinal scan, JARVIS, and send it down to the EMTs at the base of the mountain."

Tony gives a questioning, mumbling sound, but Steve just shushes him gently in return. "It's nothing, babe. It's nothing."

"Scan complete. I have no way to transmit the files, Captain. My connection to the satellites appears to be offline."

Steve swears. "Is there anything else you can use?" Tony makes another low sound, pain creeping in through every syllable, but clear enough that Steve is able to parse his meaning. "Can you bounce it off the signal from my coms, JARVIS?"

"I can, Captain. Please hold."

As he waits for word from the EMTs, Steve lets himself reach out and cover Tony's hand with his own. "I got you, baby. I got you."

Tony turns his hand over in Steve's, letting him intertwine their fingers. It's a foolishly simple reminder of the duality and reciprocity of their relationship, but Steve is grateful all the same.

"Cap?"

Steve squeezes Tony's hand at the sound of his name in Nat's voice in his coms. "Yeah?"

"EMTs say you're cleared to bring him down at last as far as his spine is concerned. You might want to wrap him up in that shock blanket, though. He's going to need it."

"Roger that, Widow. I'll have him down in a few hours." Steve looks down at his husband and the distant look in his eyes and feels a surge of protectiveness well up inside of him. "You with me, baby?" Tony makes another one of those pained sounds, but Steve knows him well enough to know assent when he hears it. "Alright. Then I'm just gonna get you wrapped up and we're gonna get you back down to safety, okay?"

The trek back down the mountain is nowhere near as intense as the march up it. Where Steve had mostly been guessing on the way up, trying to follow the elusive sound of Tony's GPS, this time around he knows exactly which steps to retrace and exactly how to do so. There's a close call at one point when Steve loses his footing on one of the steeper cliff faces, but he recovers in time to avoid losing his grip on Tony.

For his part, Tony just clings to Steve, mumbling incoherently as they go. Steve tries not to worry, but he doesn't quite know how to. This is Tony, and he's never been good at being neutral where Tony is concerned. Still, there's very little he can do for Tony's condition right now, nothing he can do but get him down the mountain to the people that can help him. As Steve walks, Tony's shivering slows to almost nothing, and Steve refuses to look down at him. If he looks down and Tony's as unconscious as he had been at the top of the mountain he might lose all willpower to proceed. So he keeps his eyes ahad and holds Tony a little tighter, and if he picks up his pace a little bit when there's no answering sound of pain or distress, that's his own business.

The EMTs are on Steve the second he comes into view of the base, as though they'd started making their way up well in advance of his arrival. They lift Tony from his arms, strapping him to a body board before they rush him the rest of the way down the slope and into a waiting vehicle. As soon as Tony's out of his arms, Steve feels the weight of the last seven hours. Or has it been eight? He knows he moved faster on the way down, but how much faster?

"Easy there, Cap." There's a steadying hand on Steve's back, holding him upright. "Don't you pass out on me too."

"Nat?"

"Got it in one." Her fingers spasm against his back. "How bad was it?"

Steve shrugs helplessly. "He was unconscious with the armor in pieces around him when I got there."

Natasha inhales sharply. "He'll be alright. We both know that."

Steve closes his eyes. "Do we?"

"He's a fighter, Steve, just like you. He's been through worse than this. He'll pull through."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then the team will be right there with you to pick up the pieces."

Steve closes his eyes. As far as reassurances go, it's both accurate and terribly insufficient. Still, he leans against Natasha and tries to take on some of her confidence. That's what Tony really needs from him now. His faith. He's done everything else he can do.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for betheflame as part of my hobbit birthday bash. Unbeta'ed. Enjoy, my dear!


End file.
